TEMECULA: Water park developer seeking local investors

Money will be used to supplement building funds

The Ladera Beach-based company that is planning to build
sprawling water parks in Temecula and two other Southern California
communities is on the hunt for well-heeled investors.

According to the Splash Canyon Web site set up by the
corporation ---- Waterpark Ventures, LLC ---- "units of membership
interest" will be made available to California residents who are
accredited investors as defined by the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

Waterpark Ventures was formed this year by a team of Clearwater
Waterpark Development executives who built and manage the
23-year-old Wild Rivers water park in Irvine.

The company is looking to build new parks in Temecula,
Bakersfield and a park in Irvine that will replace the aging Wild
Rivers, which will eventually be the site of a housing
development.

Evan Gentry, a Waterpark Ventures partner, said earlier this
week that there is already a good deal of capital committed to the
Temecula Splash Canyon development, a $24 million park that will
employ about 300 people during the summer.

He said that the money raised by the public offering ---- an
investment that does not offer the transparency of buying shares of
a public company ---- will be used to help supplement those funds
and help bankroll the other two projects.

Asked point blank if there is enough money to build the project
without the help of investors, Gentry said, "We are highly
confident on the funding ... we will not be dependent on raising
money in Temecula."

The federal government's definition of "accredited investor" is
fairly broad, but it generally refers to trusts, banks, nonprofit
organizations with assets of more than $5 million and individuals
who make more than $200,000 a year. Corporations use these types of
public offerings to avoid the regulatory red tape that is involved
with selling shares and taking a company public.

Ken Israel, director of the SEC's San Francisco office, said any
company issuing units of membership interest are exempt from filing
a registration statement with the SEC, which means they are not
subjected to audited financials for certain periods of time as
public companies are.

As for why the units are only offered to "accredited investors,"
Israel said, "The theory is, by limiting the offers to accredited
investors, you're limiting the offers to sophisticated people,
experienced investors. These are people who are able to judge the
risks of a particular investment."

The minimum investment has been set by Waterpark Ventures at
$50,000. The corporation is looking to raise at least $10 million
and no more than $24 million to help finance construction of the
three parks.

Clearwater received city approval of its plans for the Temecula
water park last month. The park, a 17.8-acre facility, is slated
for city Redevelopment Agency-owned land at the northwest corner of
Diaz Road and Dendy Parkway.

With its plans stamped, the company is working to wrap up the
negotiations on the price of the land and get started with
construction.

If everything proceeds according to the company's timeline,
construction will start in October and the park will open in the
spring of 2010.

When asked if that was an ambitious schedule, Clearwater
executive Joshua Hunter said Monday, "It's been done before."

Gentry said there should be no problem finding construction
crews because of the depressed local building market.

"This is one of the best times to build," he said.

Approval of the plans this summer was a much smoother process
for Clearwater compared to its attempt to build the park on the
other side of Interstate 15.

That eastern site, land near the county buildings off Ynez Road
and the Harveston development, was opposed by neighboring residents
who feared the park would bring noise and traffic.

Before the council considered the current project in August, a
group of business owners expressed similar concerns about the
traffic and the impact the park might have on their businesses,
which are fed by the same streets that will be used by water park
visitors.

City staff and Clearwater executives met with the group before
the commission meeting, however, and there has been no public
outcry since.

In addition to announcing the investment opportunity, Clearwater
recently released new details about some of the rides that will be
offered at the park.

The "rain forest" is a large jungle gym with multiple platforms
that will feature a huge bucket of water that will tip over and
splash water.

The forest ---- a focal point of the park ---- was designed by a
British Columbia company that specializes in water park
attractions, Hunter said.

For older children and/or their parents, the park will feature
rides called the Boomerango and the Super Bowl.

The Boomerango is set up like a skateboarder's half pipe.
Multiple people on a raft will slide down one side, hit the bottom
and then slide up the opposing side just as someone would skate up
and down the sides of an empty pool.

Gentry said the Super Bowl, one of his favorite rides, is
basically set up as a centrifuge for humans that will allow someone
to spin up to three times around a bowl before they splash into a
pool.

-- What: Information will be provided to people interested in
working at the park and contractors looking to build the park.
There will also be photos and graphic representations to provide a
preview of what the park will look like.